This invention relates to electric vehicle control systems and, more particularly, to apparatus for fault analyzing an electric vehicle control system.
Recent advances in solid-state motor control systems have made electric vehicles increasingly popular. Although solid-state control systems are more reliable than the older electromechanical control systems, fault location in a solid-state system is more difficult because the systems are more sophisticated and the components are more complicated than electromechanical systems. To cope with this trouble-shooting problem, various types of test instruments have been developed. In general, these test instruments are more complicated and sophisticated than the system they are designed to test and thus tend to make the trouble-shooting task more difficult than is desired. One particular problem that has been experienced with prior art analyzers is their inability to function on a wide range of control system voltages without setting an input selector switch to a proper voltage range.
A further difficulty in prior art analyzers is their inability to test individual components in the control system. This latter difficulty is often caused by the fact that the logic circuitry which operates the control system is general inaccessible to an analyzer.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved analyzer for an electric motor control which will operate on a wide range of control voltages without adjustment.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide an improved analyzer for an electric vehicle control system which will test individual components in the system.
Briefly, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention there is provided an analyzer for an electric vehicle control system including a connector which allows the analyzer to be connected. into the control system. The logic circuit card for the control is removed and the analyzer connected in its place. The analyzer includes a plurality of switches which allows each component of the control system to be individually evaluated.